


A Hero's Farewell

by songofdefiance



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Love, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), saying goodbye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 18:06:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18722212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/songofdefiance/pseuds/songofdefiance
Summary: They’ve picked an open field, close to the Avengers compound.  Or, well, what’s left of it.





	A Hero's Farewell

**Author's Note:**

> Because fuck you, Marvel.
> 
> Or rather, I can't very well write a post saying about how writers should give their characters proper goodbyes, and then not follow through on it, can I?
> 
> (If you play the music from 'A Spy's Goodbye' in the background, and somehow manage not to cry, I salute you.)

They’ve picked an open field, close to the Avengers compound.  Or, well, what’s left of it.  

The wreckage of the compound isn’t visible through the treeline.  The sun is shining down on the congregation.  Everyone is dressed formally.  Everyone has their gazes fixed on Clint, who stands at the head of the group.

Steve stands next to him.  “You sure you want to be the one to do this?”

Clint nods, clutching the orange stone in his grasp.  “Yeah.  Yeah, I’m…”  He swallows, feels the breeze ruffle his clothes.  On his other side, Laura squeezes his hand.  

“I’m sure,” he says, looking at Steve.  “And Strange - he said that this will definitely work?”

Steve looks at him, then down at the stone in his hand.  “It will,” he says.  

Clint nods again.  “Okay, then,” he whispers.  He takes the stone in both his hands, and holds it out in front of him.  He closes his eyes, concentrates.

There are a few moments where no one moves, or breathes.  Clint waits, calling out with his heart, not his mind.

Then, finally, a voice.

“Clint?”

He opens his eyes.

Natasha is there.  She looks exactly the same way she had before she’d fallen.  The braid, the tac suit, her batons.  She blinks a few times.  They can all see the treeline through her, and every single one of them wishes that she can’t.  

“What…” she starts, blinking, taking in her surroundings.  Her eyes land on Laura, first, then Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel, who are gathered around their parents.  Then she sees Steve.  Then Bruce.  Then Thor, dressed in his best armor, and a black cloak.  Wanda is next to Laura.  Behind them: Nebula, Rocket, Carol, Okoye.  Sam, Bucky.  And behind them: many others, hanging further back, some of whom she doesn’t even recognize.

“Oh,” she whispers, unable to take her eyes off them all.  “It worked?  You did it?”

“ _You_ did it,” Steve insists.  “Everyone who’s here is here because of you, Nat.  We wanted to make sure you knew that.  We _had_ to make sure.”

Natasha takes a shaky breath.  “Seems like an awful lot of people just to tell me that.”

Clint snorts.  “You think that’s all we’re here to do?  You’ve got another thing coming.”

It’s then that she sees what they’re all holding in their hands.  At the same moment, Steve turns around, calls for everyone to line up.  They do without speaking.

Clint is first.  He steps forward, then crouches down in front of her and places two flowers at her feet.  He then steps to the side, continuing to hold out the soul stone.

Laura is next.  

“Apparently we can’t hug you,” Laura whispers to her, leaning a little closer.  “It’s bullshit.”

Natasha only smiles tremulously.

Next are Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel.  They’re each holding two flowers, the same two flowers that everyone else seems to be holding.  Lila is already sniffling, and now it’s Natasha’s turn to curse this apparent no-hugging rule.  

Bruce steps forward after them.  He’s holding his flowers with extra care, like he’s afraid he’ll crush them if he holds them too tightly.  He doesn’t say anything, just nods at her and smiles gently.

It’s Steve’s turn after that.  He doesn’t really seem to care about the no-touching rule.  After he places his flowers down, he leans forward and simulates a kiss on her forehead.  Natasha thinks she can almost feel it.  

Thor has actually braided a crown out of the same two kinds of flowers.  He sets it on top of the pile, then sink down onto one knee, bows his head, and speaks in an alien language that seems to reverberate through the air.  Natasha doesn’t know what he’s saying, but she understands.

Wanda comes forward.  There are already tears streaming down her cheeks.

“We will not waste what you have given us,” she whispers.

And they keep coming.  Okoye, who salutes her.  Rocket, who’s also crying.  Nebula, who gives her a nod, a sign of eternal respect.  Sam, who simply says, “We love you.”  Bucky, who doesn’t say anything at all, who doesn’t need to.

Others come forward, too.  Natasha thinks she might know who they are, but she doesn’t say anything, and neither do they.  They’re the first ones to leave, heading back across the field towards the compound.

The rest stay, however.

Natasha looks down at the flowers that sit at her feet.  Pink roses and hydrangeas.  

(Gratitude and love.)

She chokes, and then she starts to cry too.  “You guys are ruining my reputation,” she says.

“Suck it up,” Laura orders.  She’s crying now, too.  

“There’s something else,” Clint says.  His eyes are red.  “We were told that… that your soul is in the soul stone.  That it’s not a true death.  But we were told that people… who have a true connection to your soul -”

It’s Steve who ends up saying it.  “We can release you from it,” he tells her quietly.  “If you want us to.”

Natasha is looking at Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel again, though.  She crouches down, making sure all of them are looking at her.  

“Be good for your mom and dad,” she tells them.  

Of the three, it’s Lila who straightens, who steps forward, with a brave look on her face.  Her brothers follow suit after a moment.  

“We will, Auntie Nat,” she says.  “We love you so much.”

“All of us do,” Laura says fiercely.  “There isn’t a single one of us here who doesn’t, Nat.”

Natasha gives her a long look.  “Thank you,” she whispers.  “I love you all, too.”  She takes a deep breath, then exhales, looking at Clint.  

“I’m ready.”


End file.
